McGleenan wants a Cavan revival as star trio return

Former Tyrone ace Mattie McGleenan, who played in the 1995 All-Ireland final against Dublin, has certainly been granted plenty of time in which to plan his Cavan team's strategy for their Ulster Championship quarter-final against either Monaghan or Fermanagh on June 11.

Former Tyrone ace Mattie McGleenan, who played in the 1995 All-Ireland final against Dublin, has certainly been granted plenty of time in which to plan his Cavan team's strategy for their Ulster Championship quarter-final against either Monaghan or Fermanagh on June 11.

Ten weeks will have elapsed from that defeat to Roscommon in their last league outing by the time the Breffni outfit sample Championship action again but McGleenan has some cause for relief.

His side suffered relegation in the league and the Eglish clubman is now anxious to bolster his resources for a full-blooded assault on the provincial prize which Cavan have not collected since 1997 when former Donegal All-Ireland winner Martin McHugh worked the oracle for the county.

McGleenan hopes to have Padraig Faulkner, James McEnroe and Jack Brady back on board for Ulster Championship action in the knowledge that they will help buttress his side which lacked real fire and bite in the second half against Roscommon.

Faulkner, who has developed into a very capable defender, sustained a hamstring injury against Donegal and has been missing since that game.

McEnroe was unavailable for the league as he was out of the country but suffered a knock in a club game on his return from which he is now recovering while Brady has been troubled by a hip problem lately.

While Cavan garnered a couple of encouraging results in the league, in particular by beating Mayo and drawing with Kerry, McGleenan was left frustrated by their slump to Roscommon.

"We were level at eight points each at the halfway stage but we did not push on from there," he recalled. "It was a sharp lesson for us that we must now take into the Ulster Championship. Whether we face Monaghan or Fermanagh, it's going to be very difficult no matter how you look at it."